Page 177 of Bane of the Wild Hunt

The kelpie hesitated, but their people must truly be desperate because she nodded almost right away.

“Our portal may stay open?” she verified, and Riordan inclined his head in agreement. “Agreed,” she declared.

Orion moved from his place at the wall and held out a hand to indicate Olirik should follow him, and with a bow for Riordan, the orc went with Orion into the hall.

He is getting you what you need,Riordan explained when I began to worry about where Orion was going.

After a tense and quiet moment, I decided to begin clearing the chairs and rug from the middle of the room where I would create the salt circle. I could feel Riordan’s caution as he watched the kelpie watching me.

“You are a witch,” Clodagh realized aloud once I was nearly finished. There was some surprise in her voice but mostly the distaste that most fey harboured for my kind.

“And you are a kelpie,” I replied to her as seamlessly as I could before refocusing on my task.

“My apologies, Clodagh, this is Amira Kelley. She is my mate and my Royal Consort,” Riordan told the envoy with an unmistakable tone of warning in his voice.

“Consort,” repeated Clodagh without bothering to hide her astonishment. “A high honour for a witchling.”

“A high honour forme,” Riordan corrected her before I could respond.

Orion returned then, carrying a bowl, a jug, and a bag. He took the bowl and jug to Clodagh and then brought the bag of salt to me. Our fingers brushed as he put it into my hands before shifting to stand behind me.

I saw the kelpie pouring water from the jug into the bowl and caught a whiff of salty swamp water. I realized she must need it to make her portal just as Ornella needed living roots.

I moved toward Clodagh, and Orion stepped forward with me as I began to disperse salt around her. The kelpie watched me closely, and I could almost taste a bitterness in the air that I instinctively knew was her fear. She was undoubtedly anxious about allowing a witch to cast a spell near her king, but she did not interrupt.

More testament to how desperate her king must be.

I finished the circle and then straightened and lifted my hands to pool my elemental magic. I remembered that fire was the element of the Autumn Fey when Clodagh hissed softly at me, but she still did not protest.

I’d always been proficient with my magic and rarely had to speak my spells aloud. Most of the fancy Latin words that other witches used were perfectly meaningless and only helped to focus one’s intentions. But I decided to use the words this time since this was an important spell, and I had not performed it since my mother and I used it to trap vampires while we fled or killed them.

“Circulum hunc claudite,”I began, uttering the words low and deep with fierce intention.“Hunc tuere circulum. Hic circulus invia est.”

Once I was sure that my objective had fully saturated the magic in my hands, I directed the flames at the salt. The fire spread quickly around the circle to form a barrier around the kelpie which reached her knees. Once the salt was completely engulfed in flames, I felt the air vibrate as my magic sealed the circle tight.

I could tell that Riordan was impressed by the power. Honestly, I was kind of impressed. I did not remember it being that impactful when I used it on vampires.

Clodagh eyed the fire with obvious disdain as she set her bowl of swamp water on the ground and conjured a portal toward the back of the circle. It looked like an oval swirl of murky water and weedy debris that smelled muddy and brackish. But it also held the hint of a sweet fragrance that reminded me of lily pads.

My heart began to pound as the surface was disturbed by ripples before a kelpie male appeared wearing scaly armour and a crown of lilies and fish bones.

King Balor, the Spring King of the Formorian Fey, stepped into my salt circle.

I felt his aura expanding and slamming up against the boundaries of my magic with such force that it made the curtains in the room shudder and glass rattle. It kept coming, like it was pouring off of him, and I began to worry that my power might not hold. I was sure that if he were at his full strength, then it would not have withstood even a second of his presence. Even the king seemed surprised when it held, and he tilted his dark, wet head with preternatural grace as he looked at the flames before his gaze rose to me.

Pinning me with the knowing stare of a creature that was as old as the earth.

There was an ominous silence as the Spring King took his time to look around the room, although his reptilian eyes continuously returned to my flames. I had the sense he wouldhave extended his aura to deduce more of the world into which he’d stepped. But my circle held him.

The portal stayed open behind them, presumably as a quick exit should we prove to be a threat to the fey king. Clodagh also shifted closer to him and provided him with an arm to lean on if he needed it. I could not tell if he really was weak, despite the magnitude of power swelling around him, or if it was all an act to help make him seem less threatening to us.

“Welcome, King Balor,” said Riordan with his usual confidence and poise despite the fact that my hands were trembling slightly in fear. I tucked them behind me.

“King Riordan,” replied the Spring King with a deep, raspy voice. “Even lessened as I am, it is uncomfortable to be thus contained.”

“A necessary precaution until we reach an agreement,” Riordan maintained firmly but with just the right touch of apology. Riordan insisted diplomacy was not something he did well, but I vehemently disagreed. He was not as subtle or sneaky as some of the council members, but he knew people. How to read, inspire, and control them.

“It is a testament to my decline when a mortal witch can contain me,” Balor lamented, turning contemplative, green eyes on me again. His appraisal was not kind, and I really hoped he was not able to perceive my nervousness. This was my first interdimensional diplomatic meeting as Riordan’s mate, and I didn’t want to falter, but I could not help wishing that I was standing safely next to my mate.

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